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An advertising executive is to take over as the new chairman of the JW3 Jewish community centre on Finchley Road.

Advertising executive Marc Nohr was unanimously chosen to succeed Michael Goldstein, who steps down early next year after four years at the helm.

The son of a South African father and French Holocaust survivor mother, Nohr will join along with three new board members – executive search consultant Moira Benigson, J.K. Rowling’s agent Neil Blair and TV journalist Claudia Rosencrantz.

Nohr, who heads creative advertising agency Fold7, told Jewish News: “Having been on the board for five years it’s a great honour to chair an organisation which has quickly come to play an invaluable role in Jewish life and also impacted the wider community. Hopefully this is just the beginning, there is so much more we’d like to do”.

Announcing the appointment, JW3 chiefs said Goldstein’s tenure had been “very successful” and that he would stay on as vice-chair, continuing a ten-year relationship that began when he became a trustee ten years ago, when the plot of land was purchased.

Marc Nohr

JW3’s chief executive Raymond Simonson paid tribute to Goldstein’s “support, guidance and wisdom… in particular during the merger process with London Jewish Culture Centre, which literally would not have happened without his leadership”.

Simonson said Goldstein – who is also the chairman of the United Synagogue – was “a first-class mensch,” adding: “His input has been instrumental in enabling JW3 to have such a transformational impact in such a short time.”

In a speech at a fundraising dinner last night, Goldstein said he was “incredibly proud of what we have achieved here… Our impact reaches far beyond the perimeter of these walls”.

Nohr was married by Masorti founder Rabbi Hugo Gryn at West London shul to Gabi, the grand-daughter of Ignaz Maybaum, a rabbi at Edgware and District Reform Synagogue. They are members of Dennington Park Road United Synagogue, together with their three teenage sons.

The new JW3 chair is no stranger to the third sector, having been involved with advising Community Security Trust (CST), Jewish Care, National Trust, The Tate, UNICEF, the Red Cross and the NSPCC.

Simonson said he was excited by Nohr’s arrival, noting how he had grown the centre’s Krav Maga (a Jewish martial art) programme into the largest in the London.

“He lives locally and is a regular visitor and user of our services and programmes, with his wife and children,” said Simonson. “So he has rich experience of JW3 as a trustee, member, user, partner and teacher, which is a unique position to be in.”